Incidentally, rather than foam rollers I use something I already had -- a large, heavy marble rolling pin. It's mostly a kitchen decoration now, although I have used it for baking.

It's perfect for rolling out my thighs and calves after bike rides and workouts. It helps a little with my shoulders. And I can lay it on the floor and lay my back on top of it to roll around. It's a cross between painful and relaxing, but foam rollers just don't do anything for my knotted up back and neck. But I need to be careful to avoid bone contact -- it's easy to get bruised with a hard roller.

Also to quickly relieve chronic daily pain, try the Stopain roll-on with menthol and MSM as a transdermal carrier. It's the best buy among similar stuff. Biofreeze and Blue Emu are good as well, but cost more. Unless the topical analgesic has a transdermal carrier (usually MSM, sometimes the chemically similar DMSO), it cannot penetrate the skin to relieve pain in joints and muscles just under the skin. And none of them will reach deep muscle pain. But Stopain has been great for my busted up shoulder and neck.

To reach my back without straining my good shoulder, I fasten the Stopain roll-on to a wand or handle (using a heavy duty rubber band). Much easier on my shoulders. A bamboo back scratcher, telescoping grabber arm used by disabled folks and seniors, or something similar would work as well.

Ted's Pain Cream works pretty well too but acts slowly, taking days to be effective. Stopain is immediately effective -- very cooling but not painful. Ted's is made like a fine skin lotion, with wintergreen, resveratrol and MSM as the transdermal carrier. I combine the two for longer acting relief.